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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Saturday, 8 May 1920
I want an idea for a new picture. I will ask the Yi to suggest one. [I Ching Hexagram] XXXVIII. A wonderful answer! Truly! Every line has an exciting picture, ending with the 'pig carrying on its back a load of mud' and 'the carriage full of ghosts'. Very well, but I absolutely do not want my picture with 'subjects'; I want pure symphonies of colour. The natural objects are to be mere excuses for the juxtaposition.
Later. I have started a picture of a big Buddha-Rupa on a red rock with a great tree in the foreground and mountains behind. It's nice but not at all what I wanted.
Children should not be taught. They should be put in a position where they have to learn. A child always tries to save itself trouble by asking its mother questions and the only legitimate question which should be answered is 'What is the name of a thing?' This is allowable because it is arbitrary. To any other question, the answer should be 'Find out'. The child is thus obliged to use its own mind only on those subjects which interest it or are actualities with which it is compelled to deal. To answer the questions of children is to debauch their minds, to make them subservient, echoes of others. This is not the same as keeping a child ignorant and children should be shown how to find out things for themselves. In other words, they can be taught method as is done with scientific students who do not have to learn things by rote but are made to verify for themselves, even the most elementary statements. There is no reason why this process should not be begun aborigine. If you answer a child's question, its mind is set at ease and that encourages it to be lazy, servile and credulous.
It is notorious for example that geography means nothing to people, even adults, unless they travel.
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